Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program Explained

Do you have an interest in residing and working in Alberta? If yes, the Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program is for you. Alberta is one of Canada’s provinces situated in Western Canada with cities like Edmonton and Calgary growing at a very fast pace.

 If not for any other reason, the vast job opportunities are more than enough reasons to lure foreign workers who are searching for stable employment.

You can’t afford to mention Agricultural production in Canada without talking about the Alberta province. Furthermore, the province is blessed with enormous oil reserves, little wonder why the province has a thriving oil industry.

The Alberta Immigration Nominee program is organized by the Alberta Government and they hire skilled workers which avail them the opportunity to acquire the right work experience and training required to fill certain job positions in Alberta.

Successful candidates, when issued a Provincial Nomination (PN) from the Alberta province can obtain a permanent residence permit.

Alberta launched two new PNP streams on the 14th of June 2018, namely; the Alberta Express Entry stream and Alberta Opportunity stream. With these recent streams, the previous streams which are the Alberta Strategic Recruitment Stream and the Alberta Employer-Driven Stream were closed.

These recent changes are aimed at serving workers in Alberta who desire to become permanent residents better by making the process a lot easier thereby minimizing the time for waiting and enabling workers to be evaluated fairly.

All the immigration streams operated by the Alberta province are divided into three categories which are ;

1. Alberta Opportunity Stream

This stream was brought to the limelight in June 2018. The Alberta Opportunity Stream is targeted at foreigners who have existing jobs in Alberta and have been issued an official employment offer to continue working full-time in the province by their Alberta employer. Certain requirements are ranging from job offers to language proficiency, education, and work experience. 

We have explained the requirements below:

-Requirements For Residency and Work Permits

For you to be eligible under this stream, you must have the following;

1. An original work permit for a valid NOC job through a Labour Market Impact Assessment(LMIA) but you are exempted if you are either an LMIA exempt worker who is protected by an international trade agreement or an international student who has obtained a Post Graduation Work Permit.
2. Temporal resident status in Canada permits you to work legally in the country.

However, you are not qualified to apply if you are either a refugee claimant or a person who is being deported from the country.

-Language Proficiency

You must prove your proficiency in the language by excelling in the language tests and these tests are based on the Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB, and Niveaux de compétence Linguistique Canadiens (NCLC). As of the year 2019, you are expected to score a minimum of 5 on both tests. Nevertheless, Job NOC codes such as 3413 which include patient services, nurse aides, and orderlies are exempted, you must score a minimum of on both CLB in English and NCLC in French.

-Educational Requirements

Candidates are expected to have either of the following;

1. A certificate that indicates that you are done with a post-graduate certificate program;
2. A minimum of two years long diploma;
3. A bachelor’s degree, graduate-level certificate, graduate degree, or diploma.

Please also note that these certifications whether from a private or public high school must be ascertained by Alberta  Advanced Education.

-Occupational Requirements

Applicants must;

1. Have acquired enough work experience in the field of the occupation you are applying with;
2. Must have a job in the province that is part of the Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program. Also, the program accepts most NOC (National Occupational Classification) levels such as 0, A, B, C, and D.

-Work Experience

Here, the job must correspond with the needed work experience for your application and you will not be allowed to change the job you applied for in your application. In order to qualify, you are expected to have;

1. One year of full-time work experience in the province within a period of a year and 6 months for a job accepted by AINP.
2. Two years of full-time work experience in Canada 
3. Post Graduate Work Permit with six months full-time work experience which is in relation to your field of study or your degree.

-Fund Requirement

Candidates must have enough funds that will enable them to support themselves and their families before they can apply for this program. When we talk about family, we mean, you, dependent children (below 22 years of age and are single), and spouse or common-law partner even if they are not immigrating with you.

Furthermore, you must use your yearly pay (gross annual income) after you must have paid your tax.

   2. Self-Employed Farmer Stream

What is the purpose of this stream? It is simply to assist foreign immigrants to start up their farms in Canada. For you to be qualified to apply for the Alberta Self Employed Farmer Stream, you must be evaluated based on the following criteria;

-Education

Candidates must have completed high school and obtained a diploma. You must note that your certification must be up to the Albertan educational standards.

-Income

For any application submitted from 2020 to 2021, you must earn a minimum of $23,392 in a year.

-Language Skills

As of June 14th, 2019, candidates are expected to score at least 5 in either the Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) or the Niveaux de compétence Linguistique canadiens (NCLC).

Other requirements include:

• A well-detailed business plan for an Albertan farm. 
• The Education, work experience, and training needed to not just develop but also sustain the farming business.
• Candidates must provide proof of sufficient funds required to develop or sustain the farming operation.
• At least $500,000 CAD of equity to be invested in the farming business. 
• Candidates must have a net worth of at least $500,000 CAD or show proof of accessing this fund from other sources. 

There are also a good number of reasons why you may not be eligible to apply for this stream. They are;

• If you are a refugee claimant
• If you are about to be deported from Canada
• If you work as a caregiver in Canada
• If you study in Canada as a foreign student doing internships or co-op work placements.
• If you work as a temporary foreign worker who does not reside in Alberta.

  3. Express Entry Alberta

There are two major routes through which candidates can apply to the immigration Alberta. You can send an Expression of Interest (EIO) directly without having to go through the Canadian Express Entry System. 

If you are nominated this way, you can proceed to apply for Canadian Permanent Residency via Express Entry. You can do this by uploading your provincial nomination documents to the website.

The second option is to start the process by building a new Express Entry Profile. After this, you can indicate interest in the Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program directly via the system. Once you receive an Alberta nomination, you will gain 600 points in your Express Entry score thereby increasing your chances of getting invited to apply during the next Express Entry draw. 

In conclusion, even though there are different programs through which you can obtain permanent residency in the province of Alberta, the most effective and popular way is the Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program (AINP). 

The Albertan Government in partnership with the Citizenship and Immigration Canada(CIC) is in continuous search of skilled and semi-skilled foreigners who can join the Albertan workforce and directly or indirectly contribute positively to the Albertan economy in the long run.